DISCUSSIONS

Saponification reaction between NaOH and Et(Ac) was able to be carried out in thisexperiment via plug flow reactor (PFR). Other than that, we are also able to determine thereaction rate constant by using the formula and to determine the effect of residence time on theconversion in the PFR.The experiment was first started by carrying out the general start-up for the reactor. Theprocess in the PFR can be done in two ways, whether it is vary in temperature or in contact time.The flow rates of both solutions in this experiment are the varying components in thisexperiment. At the end of the day, the saponification process is successfully done in the PFR.

NaOH

Sodium Hydroxide +

CH3COOC2H5

CH3COONa

Ethyl Acetate

Sodium Acetate

C2H5OH+

Ethyl

Alcohol

The overall reaction order for the saponification process is second ordered, the reactionrate constant can be determined by applied the equations below, where

-rA = k CA2 (1-X)2

The reaction rate constant that we obtained for flow rates 100 mL/min and 300 mL/minare 4.8557 M-1.min-1 and 9.0268 M-1.min-1 respectively. Meanwhile, the reaction rate for flowrates 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min are 0.001322 M.min -1 and 0.000386 M.min-1 respectively.From the reaction rates we calculated, we can see that the values are decrease as the flow ratesincrease. There should be a directly proportional relationship between flow rate and reaction rate.Maybe there were some errors when we conducted the experiment and handling the reactor. Oneof it is maybe about the time management during conducting the experiment. Referring to theresult table, we can see that in flow rate 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min, the average residencetime are 7.4213 minutes and 2.4685 minutes respectively. The highest point of X comparingbetween average residence time in flow rates 100 mL/min and 300 mL/min are 59.4694 % and40.3736 %. Conversion is a property that shows how much of the reaction has taken place.Hence, by comparing this property with the residence time parameter, one can analyse the effectsof increasing residence time to the reaction itself. Residence time is the average amount of time adiscrete quantity of reagent spends inside the reactor tank. Theoretically, conversion in PFR willincrease as residence time increase. This is because the longer the residence time involved, morereaction will occur inside the reactor. So, we can postulate that this experiment obeys theprinciple that correlates between residence time and conversion, X.After all values has been calculated, a graph of conversion factor against conductivity isplotted. From the graph that had been plotted, we can obtained the concentration of NaOH at theinlet and outlet of the reactor by using the calibration curve.